Sunday, February 9, 2014

So a few weeks ago Kate started bleeding while we were playing ball. Not that unusual for her to bite her tongue or lip or something. It was a bit unusual as we were playing with a soft rubber ball on grass, like, what did she bite? You know how that goes, though, looks worse than it is. The bleeding usually stops as quickly as it started. Well, it went on longer than usual. She looked like she had war paint on with streaks of blood up both sides of her face.

As I age, my tolerance for inside parts being on the outside gets less and less. Now, I could never have been a vet or paramedic or anything like that, but I did have some tolerance for ickies in controlled situations. Now? No, not at all. My dog first aid routine has turned into me standing there with my fists on my chin going, “oh no, oh no, oh no, why isn’t that stopping!?!?”

I did manage to get pressure on her face with a wad of paper towels. When the bleeding finally stopped I found this under her gum…

I couldn’t tell at the time – what with all the blood – if she had cut herself of if it was a growth. Clearly a growth of some sort now. And again I remind myself to not google shit before seeing the vet. She is doing just that tomorrow. Damn old lumpy bitches.

Did you watch the Westminster agility last night? Wow, so disappointing. Some of it was actually painful to watch. I switched channels for some of the runs because I was uncomfortable looking at it.

Let me start by saying I am not criticizing individual dogs or handlers. I certainly think anyone that wants to do agility and can do it safely should do so. One of the things I think is great about agility here is that there is truly something for everyone. You don’t have to be competitive or have an uber-fast dog to enjoy the sport. I am certainly not either of those. We have NADAC-style to international style and everything in between. We have CPE to Cynosport and everything in between.

My problem with it is the language, I think. You should not have an event that has the words “masters” and “championship” in title and roll out what was rolled out last night. That was, at best, a showcase. Which would have been cool if that’s what it was billed as. Don’t keep saying that “these are the top ten dogs in each jump height” when they are not. They are the top three dogs with the requisite mutt and some other breeds. Twenty two seconds between second and third place? Masters Championship? Really? I understand that maybe they were trying to show that everyone can play. Little variety? I guess that if they used the actual top ten dogs from each height it probably would have been a bunch of Papillions and a bunch of Shelties and a bunch of Border collies and one Pyrenean shepherd.

I wish they would do both if they do this again. Showcase that anyone can have fun with their dog in this sport AND show what some of the best teams do. The actual top ten. That makes much better TV. It’s also more honest. Why do we need to make things seem more important than they are or more – even? – than they are? I mean, just because professional baseball players are much better at the sport doesn’t mean you shouldn’t enjoy your office team league. It certainly wouldn’t make sense to play each other, right? Seems sort of insulting to both parties.

Also, what the hell is with the La-Z-Boy chair at the start/finish? Is this normal for an AKC show? Seems awful stupid to me. And dangerous. I understand wanting the person currently in first to stick around, but sit in a big upholstered chair inside the ring at the start line? Weird!

Tuesday, February 4, 2014

This is going to be a banner year for dogs being adorable in bed pictures.

Although, we do have a very accessible hummingbird nest at work, so you have a kajillion of those shots to look forward to. Haha. She's sitting on eggs right now, so don't want to bother too much. When the hatching happens?